


Reading?

by ruby_shooting_stars



Series: Ten Short Stories [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, I participated in a dnd thing and because wRitING is FuN I wrote out my characters back story, I wanted to get it out of my drive, I'm Sorry, It's Not Great, Very not good at being not high key angsty, don't hurt me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 14:53:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13250568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruby_shooting_stars/pseuds/ruby_shooting_stars
Summary: A gentle yet quick girl gets a wonderful opportunity to learn how to read!But things don't go according to plan. At all.At all.





	Reading?

**Author's Note:**

> Just read the tags. They say it all.
> 
> Also there's a lot of paragraphing. I tend to do that a lot. Tell me if it's not all that great because of it, k?

“Papa!” the child called, her big brown eyes shining. “Can we do that thing again?”

The presumed father, greying hair atop his head, looked at his daughter skeptically. “Are you sure? It's not good for your arm.”

She gave him a big hug and pouted from his chest. “Please?”

Restraining a smile, he nodded. His daughter instantly let go and sat down at the small table in their hunting cottage. After both snuggled into their seats, the took each other's hands and smirked.

“One, two, three…” the father counted. She shifted around, smirk enlarging.

“Go!”

They started trying to push each other's arms down, straining. Surprisingly, the girl wasn't losing horribly, and the father was genuinely trying. Her skinny arms were deciding to their strength.

But eventually her father won, slamming his daughter's hand onto the table. The girl whined for just a second about losing, but couldn't restraint smiling. 

This was fun.

 

The two went hunting together often, the girl a bit better at actually drawing the bow and aiming than her father, but much worse at running quickly and quietly. She had enough strength to strangle a deer, but didn't have the experience necessary to get an opportunity. And if she did, she would likely waste most of her energy not knowing what to do.

They went into town often too. It was a big village but small city, and the two of them were very reliable sources of meat and other animals products to the butcher and dressers. They had fun making a living, even when their mother passed away a few years back. The girl had toys, clothes, and friends in the city, and she was happy.

They went again to market to get a birthday gift for the girl. She was nine now, and she put on her prettiest dress and styled her brown hair as well as she could. It wasn't all that beautiful overall, but she did with what she could do. Her father also dressed up nicely, as they would go to a small get together away from the city after buying her a gift. They walked around their favorite area to shop, the people there asking about the special occasion.

“I'm nine!” Linda would say with pride, and the shopkeepers and shoppers would smile and clap her on the back, wishing her a safe and happy year. Many complimented their appearances, saying they looked rich and beautiful. Linda would smile even more.

Mid smile during one of these encounters, the world went

black.

She could see, feel, hear, touch, and even taste the darkness. Her subconscious took over, and even though her high consciousness could see her father worried that her face fell and she wasn’t answering the questions she usually did.

She sensed darkness, shivering from it’s seductive touch.

It had a source.

Her head swiveled, still seeing darkness and light and worried people. In the midst of the darkness, she saw two men.

Nothing special about them. They were just radiating darkness. And coming towards them.

“Pop-” she started to say, raising her hand just a fraction towards the men.

He turned around just in time to duck from a murderous blow to the head with a pan. Disoriented as he was, he had no way of avoiding their next attack: grabbing. He was in their hands now. They were grabbing him, hurting him.

She kicked.

It struck right underneath one of their knees, and her brute strength, made the one that was holding her father shrivel for just long enough for one of the villagers to pull her father out. But now they had her in their sight too.

Darkness turned to deep, blood red.

He grabbed her. She bit him, punched backwards and tried to hit anything she could. It helped, and he let go for just a second, but it wasn’t enough. She was strong,

but he was stronger.

He was around her neck. Was there sound around them? She couldn’t tell. She tried kicking him again, but couldn’t see where and he avoided her easily. He was bigger than her, after all. She tried to free her hands, but his grip was strong. She tried moving like fish in his grasp, but he was too strong a fisherman. High consciousness was getting darker, and it was harder to see the blood red.

Then it suddenly stopped.

She could barely process it, but someone had gotten help and now the fisherman had been restrained by the local head chief. No, you can’t fish anymore. Leave that hurt fish alone.

Her neck hurt.

They were in some house, and her neck stung. Something smelled of herbs, of the forest, and she managed to see just a bit more color. Well, she wasn’t seeing blackness anymore, just varying levels of worried purple. Or maybe it was all in her head. She couldn’t tell anymore.

We’re sorry this happened to you, we’ll give you compensation, oh it’s your daughter’s birthday! That’s incredible, happy birthday dear.

What a wonderful birthday present.

“Em,” her father said, the word resonating in her head. “The mayor can give you any gift you want. All you have to do is tell him.”

The high was easier to see now. She wondered if she could go back to the sub, with all those colors. It’d be pretty nice to do that while hunting. She rocked back in forth in her chair, thinking.

“I want a good bow and good arrows.”

The mayor looked quite surprised. Are you sure, little girl? That’s something for boys, are you sure?

“He can get you books, are you sure?”

Books! She forgot about that luxury. Her father didn’t know how to read anything except for numbers, and she knew her numbers, but she wanted to read.

“Reading lessons and a few books.”

Are you sure, little girl? Reading is for boys, for older boys. You’re a nine year old girl, are you sure?

She nodded, seeing the man’s eyes for the first time. 

They were pitch black, though her eyes told her brown. She didn’t want to listen to him, but her father was, so she did.

I can give you lessons, he said, or someone else can. I don’t think it’d be that hard, and I can give you a few books.

“More than a few books.”

A-alright. More than a few books. Of course. We’ll get you enough to keep you entertained.

“A chalkboard.”

You want a chalkboard? Are you sure? Teaching is only for boys.

“Chalkboard. And chalk.”

Her father was just listening now, seeing what she was doing.

O-okay then, we’ll get you all of that. It shouldn’t be too hard. How about this, you can have your first lesson here a week from now?

The two nodded and left.

 

“Did you see his face?” her father hollered.

“He looked like a full on idiot!” The friend group laughed so hard the ceiling shook.

“Anyway,” Em said, “once I learn how to read I’ll teach everyone to! Then we can pass messages around and not just by seeing each other!”

The oldest one of them, Mother, wasn’t all that old, but everyone respected her.  She said, “And we can get together more often through chalk and paper.”

Everyone nodded, happy and excited at the prospects. 

“Em really didn’t panic all that much,” her father said, looking at his daughter warmly. She puffed a bit with pride.

“We really need some woman strength in the group, eh?” a woman said, slapping Em’s back. Her husband, and incredibly muscular dude, glared at her.

They all laughed.

Em looked around, feeling warmth spread from her smile into the middle of her chest, and from there to the tips of her toes. Her high conscience was completely blooming now, aware of the happy smiles and warm atmosphere and the orange glow from the sunset.

She loved her little world right there and then.

 

After making sure her side part was straight for about twenty minutes, Em was finally ready to go into town for her lesson. She was buzzing with excitement, cute (she thought) yellow dress waving happily side to side. Her father had a simple shirt on, but his hair was brushed. That was a first.

The walked through the woods, getting to town in about thirty minutes. In that time, Em was sure she was going to burst. Did any of the nobles realize just how lucky they were? Reading must be amazing! It was probably going to be a tough road, but she was ready to slowly tackle it. Her father was almost as excited as she was.

She mostly kept her high consciousness on, finding it easier to walk when she’s not focusing on everything. But when hunting, she really liked her sub colors. It helped a lot.

People in town were congratulating them, all except for one outlier that simply asked when their next meat shipment would be ready. It felt weird to have such a normal conversation on such a special day.

She hoped they would hurry.

They got to a house that was approximately twenty times bigger than an elephant. She heard elephants were huge.

They knocked, and a nice lady answered and waved Em in, but not her father. He just waved a little bit and went back into town, but not going home. Her lesson wouldn’t take too long, he thought.

The inside was rich, well decorated, and with so much red. There was so much red, and velvet, and red, and white, and red, and black. So much. She loved it.

A room she was put in looked very similar to the rest of the house, but smaller. She just looked at all the black, red, white, black, red, white, black, red, white…

“Hello there.”

She turned her head so fast the world spun before letting her focus in on her teacher. He was buff, quite buff. Nearly shaved head, loose clothing. Not someone she would expect to be scholar. She didn’t like him already.

After all, his eyes were black.

Sub triggered, she tensed in her seat a little bit. He wasn’t really radiating anything, and his body language wasn’t really telling her anything. He didn’t have a true end goal, or if he did, it didn’t matter to him much.

“I’m here to learn to read,” she said, respectively.

He just hummed.

He sat down across from her, grunting while falling into the ridiculously comfortable chair. She had the same one, and it was really fluffy and gentle and red.

“Before that, I was told to test your strength.”

That was unexpected. She leaned her head to the side in question. Why would strength be necessary in a reading situation? Or was it just something she didn’t know about reading yet?

He put his hand up to arm wrestle.

She couldn’t win against this brute for sure, but she could definitely try. On a count of

one

two

three,

she put all her strength into her arm. Her sub kept her focused on everything, including any damage to her arm. Nothing yet.

He wasn’t trying really, but she did move his hand quite a bit before he realized he actually had to try a little bit. He tipped her hand over, and her shoulder flashed red, so she tensed it and pushed.

In vain, as he smashed her hand after that.

He nodded, humming a little. It was a better hum than when he first came in.

“Let’s see how fast you are.”

“But-”

His eyes flashed red, and she silenced. He was impressed she didn’t speak up too much, even though he knew he showed nothing.

She stood up, noticing for the first time just how spacious the room was. It was big enough for some running for sure.

Em stood uncertainty, but when she saw an oozy black seep out of him, all else faded to darkness and she became entirely focused, focused, focused.

She evaded. Ducked. Kicked. Bit.

He hit, he frowned, he threw her against the wall.

Eyes swimming, but still somehow focused on the oozing black coming out of his eyes and arms.

“Not bad,” he commented, his voice a strange mixture of sub and high in her mind.

The oozing stopped. He picked her up gently, and she let him, wobbling slightly.

“And she’s not as beat up as I thought she would be, though she could be much faster…”

Faster? Why does she need to be fast for reading?

“Reading?” she asked, voice small and sad and just like a nine year old girl’s should sound like. Nothing like her normal voice.

Pulse of blue, of sadness. He was just a messenger in a cruel world. She didn’t think he would hurt her just then, and slightly trusted his words. He had yellow white, purity, near his head and in his eyes.

He knelt down to be level with her eyes. She stared into them, watching white and blue swirl within them. “Someone who nobody likes but have to listen to wants you to fight for him. And he might kill your father if you don’t comply.”

Kill.

Papa.

Her heart shivered, darkness from a different source but seeping through the strong man clutching it.

She couldn’t look into his blue eyes.

“Please, come with me. I’ll teach you how to read.”

A small lining of tears filled her eyes, flashing to the scene with Mother and the rest. It was all being torn up. Her nine year old mind could process that.

He enveloped her in an unwanted, but needed, hug. She just put her head on his shoulder.

He didn’t need to say anymore.

 

What she didn’t know right then was that her father was already dead. What she didn’t know is that her teacher was sent away hours after he brought her in, slight warmth in his eyes.

She didn’t know she would never learn how to read.

She didn’t know no one would believe that she was strong and durable. No one would compliment her, but everyone would criticize her. She would be the only girl, only one to get sexually abused in the entire building.

She didn’t know that her only ray of hope would be the memory of her father, the memory of those white blue eyes, the memory of Mother and her warm, orange house.

She didn’t know anything.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, criticism is highly appreciated! I'm not a great writer so I'd like to be better for sure!!!
> 
> (Lol I didn't proofread this wonder if you can tell)


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